The Telephone Room

Welcome 2012: "Zigzags, Stripes, and Shadows" by Julie Alpert

2012-03-02T11:39:00.008-08:00

"Stream of consciousness drawings become blueprints for how I respond to the Telephone Room's cramped, charming, and curious architecture. Utilizing the shelves, telephone alcove, cabinet doors, and window, painted lines follow and cascade off the various surfaces transforming the once useful room into a mysterious three-dimensional painting. Cardboard figures cast ominous shadows while woodgrain contact paper is collaged to mimic the old hardwood floor. While preparation and gathering of materials happen offsite, final decisions for how to arrange and address the space are improvised, dependent on my intuition for composition and color relationships."

---Julie Alpert, February 2012.

Julie Alpert, Telephone blueprint 1, 2012, collage, 5.5" x 8.5".
Photo courtesy of Julie Alpert.

Julie Alpert, Telephone blueprint 2, 2012, collage, 5.5" x 8.5".
Photo courtesy of Julie Alpert.

Julie Alpert, Telephone blueprint 3, 2012, collage, 5.5" x 8.5".
Photo courtesy of Julie Alpert.

The Telephone Room Coloring Book Project:

As a way to gain insight into Julie's process, a stack of blank "blueprint" sketches of the Telephone Room will be provided alongside collage materials. Visitors are encouraged to customize a blueprint, much like the empty pages in a coloring book, according to their own intuition, aesthetic and imagination. Drawings will remain at the gallery through the duration of the show.

Julie Alpert, Telephone blueprint, 2012, ink drawing, 5.5" x 8.5".
Photo courtesy of Julie Alpert.

Julie Alpert is an artist living in Seattle, SOIL member and Gage Academy instructor who was awarded a 2012 Pollock-Krasner Grant. Her artwork has most recently been seen at the ONN:OF Festival, SOIL gallery, UW Jacob Lawrence Gallery, NEPO House and much more. Julie will be creating a site-specific work within the Telephone Room Gallery.

See and read more at: www.juliealpert.com and www.juliealpert.blogspot.com.

Zigzags, Stripes, and Shadows by Julie Alpert is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from March 3 - April 30, 2012. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

"Out of the Embers" by Allison Hyde

2011-09-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

Using experimental printmaking, mixed media and sculpture, Allison Hyde's work seeks to explore ephemeral moments, and our notion of emotional loss associated with personal pasts. By splitting video sequences into still photos and recreating the images via printmaking she examines the subtleties of fleeting moments and the nostalgia related to recollections of memories. As muffled voices emanate from the charred confines of small boxes in Out of the Embers, the viewer is allowed a private moment to hear lists of other people's most important possessions -- allowing reflection upon the potential significance and emotional triggering effects that objects have in our lives.

Allison Hyde, "Out of the Embers," installation detail at the Telephone Room Gallery, 2011.

Allison Hyde grew up in Lakewood, attended Charles Wright Academy and Colorado State University, and recently completed her MFA in Printmaking at the University of Oregon.
See also http://allisonhyde.tumblr.com/.

Out of the Embers by Allison Hyde is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from September 10-30, 2011. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

What Was Your Favorite Craft?

2011-05-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

That's what we asked some artists as we get ready for the opening of Assignment: Crafty on June 4.

Elise Richman:
   "I loved making candles as a kid. The process involved amazing transformations and vats of heated wax seemed like witches' cauldrons. Candle crafts feel very elemental. I was rapt watching candle wax melt like ice bergs into pools of lava. Candles are shape-shifters of a sort becoming layered rainbow stars, solid scented blocks, dipped tapered stalks or just about anything.
   I could never master any crafts involving yarn and hooks. I always blamed my left-handedness but know this is a poor excuse since I'm certain many south paws are knitting/crocheting fiends. My fingers get twisted and I can't manage the delicate intricacies of casting on, stitching and knotting. This was a source of shame when knitting became hipper than cupcakes or being in a band."
http://www.eliserichman.com/

Graham Bell:
   "My favorite was always drawing "boycentric" drawings. Of cars and dinosaurs and robots.
   My trouble was when it was realized by my teacher that I was just tracing out of a book with exceptionally thin paper and then adding on my own touches. Usually having to do with dino-robot-cars. Zoom. Rawr. Beep.
   Also I really liked gluing construction paper to itself with a gluestick. Never Elmer's. The slow-drying time was a definite negative."

Lisa Kinoshita:
   "As a kid I made daisy chains, also chains folded from Doublemint gum wrappers. Early inklings of jewelry making..."
http://www.lisakinoshita.com/

Shannon Eakins:
   "That's a hard question for me, but I had a special love of that clay that you made from flour, salt, and water (an early self-drying clay?). I remember making figurines, and miniature girl-scout cookies with it. The best part was using my mom's clear nail polish (shhhh!) to seal my creations, always before they were completely dry, and then watching the mold grow."
http://www.shannoneakins.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Adams:
   "When I was a kid, I enjoyed cross-stitch. Before heading to a friend's mountain cabin for two summertime weeks, we would head to the sewing store. My mom allowed my sister and me to pick up a little cross-stitch kit to pass the time when we weren't hiking, reading, playing UNO or saving mountain dogs.
   Now I enjoy knitting, which I am terrible at, and needle felting, which sometimes scares me because the needle is so big and barbed, and moving in such a fast stabbing motion!
   I have always wanted to whittle little animals out of wood, but am afraid of cutting myself to ribbons. As a kid, I tried with soap. I ended up with a chunk of chopped up soap and a mad dad."

Colleen Maloney:
   "My favorite craft is also a favorite family memory. When we were kids we got to decorate our own Christmas tree. So we sit on the floor and make our own ornaments out of straws, pipe cleaners, glitter, egg cartons and whatever else we could find. The only challenge was cleaning up the Elmer's glue and glitter on the coffee table."

Marc Dombrosky:
   "At the time, it felt more like an intensive training mission than a *craft*, but my brother and I would build extensive arsenals out of white paper and Scotch tape that we would then emblazon with insignias--Thundercats, Ho!--code numbers, buttons, and secret messages meticulously drawn in black marker. Telescoping swords would have components that would augment their use, like robotic gloves, secret compartments full of paper throwing stars and a shoulder strap. A shoulder strap?"
http://www.marcdombrosky.blogspot.com/

Revisiting craft projects culled from how-to books from the 1960s to the 1980s, Assignment: Crafty asked artists to explore three randomly assigned projects taken from these books. Artists were given the freedom to create one, two or all three projects, and encouraged to modify, combine and interpret the projects in any way through the filter of their own artistic practice.

Come see contemporary perspectives on fish printing, bottle gardens, rock creatures, Ojos de Dios and more from the following artists: Jennifer Adams, Jessica Bender, Peter Lynch, Matt Johnson, Ann Darling, Lauren Faulkner, Chris Sharp, Colleen Maloney, Elise Richman, Saya Moriyasu, Tobin Eckholt, Maria Jost, Meghan Mitchell, Lisa Kinoshita, Jennifer Peters, and Terry Dew.

Assignment: Crafty is curated by Ellen Ito and is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 4-30, 2011. The opening is on June 4 from 5-9 p.m. Viewable by appointment almost anytime afterwards -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

Rock Craft by Saya Moriyasu

2011-05-26T00:53:00.000-07:00

Revisiting craft projects culled from how-to books from the 1960s to the 1980s, Assignment: Crafty asked artists to explore three randomly assigned projects taken from these books. Artists were given the freedom to create one, two or all three projects, and encouraged to modify, combine and interpret the projects in any way through the filter of their own artistic practice, as well as document their efforts.

The following craft was executed by Saya Moriyasu.

Assignment: Crafty is curated by Ellen Ito and is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 4-30, 2011. The opening is on June 4 from 5-9 p.m. Viewable by appointment almost anytime afterwards -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

"Dead Loss" by Jessica Bender

2011-04-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

Coming on April 15, 2001: Dead Loss... an installation inspired by solitary confinement, padded cells, and blanket forts by Jessica Bender during the months of April and May, with an opening on Friday, April 15 from 6-9 pm.

Jessica is a midwest transplant to the northwest, and her art is about identity. She wants to be a vampire.

Jessica Bender, Dead Loss, installation detail at the Telephone Room Gallery, 2011.

In the meantime, browse around Jessica's blogs: http://www.cabinet713.blogspot.com/ and http://www.jessicaabender.blogspot.com/, and see more images of her work at https://picasaweb.google.com/jessica.bender.

Jessica's work has previously been seen in the Hello! and Undead group shows at the Telephone Room Gallery, as well as in a solo installation The Bluebird, inspired by Charles Bukowski and his poem My Telephone. Her art was most recently seen in Tacoma as part of the SpaceWorks Tacoma project: http://www.wait-whereami.com/ and http://spaceworkstacoma.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/.

Jessica Bender, Prey, Mixed media, 11½(w) x 9½(h) x 4(d) inches, 2009.

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird installation at the Telephone Room Gallery, 2009.
"The Bluebird is an installation inspired by and celebrating the life and work of Charles Bukowski, American poet and author, for his birthday August 16th." --Jessica Bender

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird installation at the Telephone Room Gallery, 2009.

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird installation detail at the Telephone Room Gallery, 2009.

Jessica Bender, to baby strigoli, with love, felt, leather, found buttons, ring boxes, whiskey, "blood," 2009. For sale: $66.6

Dead Loss by Jessica Bender is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from April 15 - May 28, 2011. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

Exit133 Tacoma Arts in Review: "Emulate" at the TRG

2011-03-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

Erin Bailey visited us for our Party Line with Lauren Faulkner on March 18, and gave us a nice write-up on Exit133 this week:
http://www.exit133.com/6199/

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Tacoma Arts in Review: "Emulate" at the Telephone Room Gallery
(March 27, 2011 by Exit133 Tacoma Arts in Review)
by Erin Bailey

The Telephone Room Gallery is an alternative art space located in the North Tacoma home of Heide Fernandez-Llamazares. This pint-sized gallery operates under the mission “to house artist-driven exhibits and programming. Big ideas in an intimate space.” Named for the working rotary telephone mounted inside, the Telephone Room offers uniquely personal opportunities to experience art up close and to interact with artists over a welcoming kitchen table.

Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes features three nude portraits by emerging artist Lauren Walker inspired by iconic artist Egon Schiele. Faulkner’s work takes the viewer along on an artistic journey as Faulkner captures Schiele’s style while displaying her own progression and inspiration, and challenging her abilities. Egon Schiele was an Austrian artist during the turn of the 20th century who studied under Gustav Klimt, drawing inspiration from artists such as Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh. Early in his career Schiele gained fame for his pornographic style, depicting women in erotic positions. Schiele defended the legality of distributing his work in public against many who argued it was pornography which resulted in the destruction of his work and three days in prison.

This is Faulkner’s first showing in a gallery since she graduated from University of Puget Sound with a concentration in painting, and her commitment to learning from process and exploration is clear. Says Faulkner: “In this series, I examine Schiele in terms of style. I combine some of Schiele’s most revered nudes with my own palette imbuing in the paintings a synthesis of Schiele’s and my own vision of the body. By emulating his style, I hope to gain further insight into his creative process, and to create work that reflects his artistic mastery.” While her work is as stylistically her own, traces of Schiele are evident in the exposure of the human body and poses that emulate loss, discovery and sexuality. In confronting eroticism, sexuality and Schiele, Faulkner sidesteps Schiele’s trademark eroticism, and instead imbues her subjects with serenity and modesty. In explicitly addressing and exploring female sexuality, the artist acknowledges her connection with the women she depicts.

The first nude you encounter is a woman praying with her back to the world. In hiding her face and layering blues and purples Faulkner imbues the work with a sorrowful ambiance; yet despite the sadness portrayed, the subject does not appear defeated. Faulkner uses her affinity for Schiele’s style to utilize color as an emotional language, layering shades to create an aesthetic rendering of what many see as Schiele’s grotesque style in a modern and feminine interpretation. Faulkner stated that she excluded the face to leave interpretation open, to allow for an individual emotional reaction from each viewer. The exclusion of the subjects’ face and their cultural ambiguity allow for the viewer to relate easily.

The Telephone Room activates the local art community, offering both established and emerging artists a venue to share their work and interact through “Party Line” artist talks and activities. Opening homes for the arts sustains the community in times when art support suffers from budget cuts and dwindling interest. Imagine if we all were art activists, offering our homes to local artist…what would the art community in Tacoma look like? Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes is on view through March 28, stop in before it closes!

"Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes" by Lauren Faulkner

2011-03-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

"Born in 1890 in Austria, Egon Schiele was a figurative painter mentored by Gustave Klimt and associated with Art Nouveau and early Expressionist movements. Schiele is well known for his brutal confrontation of death, sex, loss and discovery as subject matter. His ability to convey weighty emotion through the simplicity of pose is masterful. During his life, Schiele’s work was lauded as depraved, pornographic and controversial. His visceral and uncomfortable representations of the human form, as well as the human condition, are unflinchingly honest, poignantly beautiful and expertly crafted. Although Schiele died in 1918 at the age of 28, his work reflects the talent of a fully-matured artist.

In this series, I examine Schiele in terms of style. I combine some of Schiele’s most revered nudes with my own palette imbuing in the paintings a synthesis of Schiele’s and my own vision of the body. By emulating his style I hope to gain further insight into his creative process, and to create work that reflects his artistic mastery."
---Lauren Faulkner, March 2011.

Lauren Faulkner recently graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a concentration in painting. She is originally from Portland, but Tacoma is her home for now. http://www.laurenfaulkner.weebly.com/

Lauren Faulkner, Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes installation at the Telphone Room Gallery, Oil on canvas paintings, March 2011. Painting on left: 22"x26"; Painting on right: 24"x30".

Lauren Faulkner, Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes installation at the Telphone Room Gallery, Oil on canvas paintings, March 2011. Painting on left: 22"x26".

Lauren Faulkner, Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes installation at the Telphone Room Gallery, Oil on canvas paintings, March 2011. Painting on left: 24"x30"; Painting on right: 16"x30".

Lauren Faulkner, Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes installation at the Telphone Room Gallery, Oil on canvas paintings, March 2011. Painting on right: 16"x30".

Emulate: A Visual Interpretation of Schiele’s Nudes by Lauren Faulkner is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from March 4 - 28, 2011. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

Perfectly Small, Perfect Fit: "Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

2010-11-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Weekly Volcano recommends Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting:
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/events/werecommend/2010/11/buddy-bunting-montana-erased-the-telephone-room-gallery-tacoma/

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by the Volcano Staff on November 3rd, 2010
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/

When the Telephone Room in North Tacoma says it's the world's second smallest art gallery, it's not lying. The space is small ... perfectly small, clocking in at an economical 12 and a half square feet. The cozy confines of the Telephone Room Gallery should be the perfect fit for Buddy Bunting's Montana (erased), which will open there Friday with an all-are-welcome open house. Inspired by a random answering machine message, Montana (erased) features paintings and found objects that explore the western landscape.

Nostalgic Road-Trip: "Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

2010-11-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Ponnekanti reviews Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting in the Tacoma News Tribune:
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/arts/2010/11/02/buddy-bunting%e2%80%99s-nostalgic-road-trip-art-at-the-telephone-room/

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Buddy Bunting’s nostalgic road-trip art at the Telephone Room
By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 2, 2010
Tacoma News Tribune

Most of us, on receiving a wrong-number telephone message, would erase it and forget it. Seattle artist Buddy Bunting turned it into art, and the obvious place for it was Tacoma’s tiny Telephone Room Gallery. Opening this Friday at the Telephone Room, a closet-sized gallery in a private North End house, is Bunting’s “Montana (erased),” an installation of paintings, photographs and objects that combines nostalgia and sociology with the erroneous voicemail at its center.

Pick up Bunting’s own handset inside the room, and you can hear the message, left on his phone while he was on a Montana road trip. (Bunting tried to reroute the message through the Telephone Room’s own rotary-dial phone, unsuccessfully. That would have been cool.) The message, ironically, details another Montana camping trip, this one by an unknown woman who’s remembering a long-ago time where she and her travel partner felt insecure as the only hippies in town, not to mention the only African-Americans. It’s a dreamy message, more vision than communication and filled with both memory and a sharp sense of not belonging.

Bunting explores both these components in his surrounding installation, which fits the tiny room like a glove. Exquisitely jewel-like oils and watercolors – the wistful, washed-out style that got him entry into TAM’s last Biennial – describe mountains, grass, four-square country buildings in the middle of nowhere. A gas station, lit up against an endless black night, is otherworldly; a pale brown RV floats like a thought. Stacked on shelves are rock collections, piles of old National Geographics, dried poppy stems. Only the baby pictures don’t really work – this is about Montana as a state of mind, not a personal scrapbook. It transforms the Room into a memory, with vaguely regretful feel, of both a place and a sense that whoever lives here is on the very edge of community.

Buddy Bunting’s “Montana (erased)” opens 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Telephone Room Gallery, 3710 N. 7th St., Tacoma, and is on view by appointment through Nov. 30.
http://www.buddybunting.com/

Inspired Art: "Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

2010-11-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

Dawn Quinn reviews Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting in the current Tacoma Weekly: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/art/inspired_art/

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Inspired Art by Dawn Quinn
Published on Wed, October 27, 2010
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/

Buddy Bunting depicts ‘Montana (erased)’ at the Telephone Room.

Seattle artist Buddy Bunting takes a lot of road trips. In traveling the country, he returns home inspired to work on pieces that encapsulate what he has seen. The Telephone Room Gallery’s newest show, “Montana (erased),” highlights pieces and items he has made and found on a trip to the “Treasure State.”

One element of the exhibit that ties in with the Telephone Room Gallery is a voicemail that Bunting had received while he was away that prompted and inspired the works. According to the gallery’s press release on the show, “an erroneously left answering machine message detailing a stranger’s travels through Montana form the basis for Buddy Bunting’s ‘Montana (erased)’ – continuing the artist’s exploration of the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness and expansion.”

The message was a coincidence, and Bunting kept it on his phone for quite some time. Fellow Washington artist Nicholas Nyland told Bunting about the Telephone Room Gallery and he deemed it the perfect place for his newest show. In the message, the woman relays a past trip during the 1960s in which she and her boyfriend visited and were not met with the warmest reception, which led to them driving through the state and not staying.

On the left wall of the space, eight oil-based pieces don the walls on paper, cardboard and other materials. A bird, train, rocks piled high in the middle of an idyllic valley, sunrise over the horizon, a vintage van, a lone, tall, aging building in the middle of nowhere, trees and a double payphone at night, as seen at a gas station all combine to form images that Bunting likely came across often in his travels, and that together form a personal story.

Straight ahead into the gallery, shelves house more pieces, found and formed by Bunting. A detailed rocky canyon and an ink and pencil depiction of a motor home with “Creation or Bust” and “Honk 4 Jesus” donning the sides frame a hexagonal vase filled with brown flowers. Below, more prints, this time colorful, rocks likely picked up on the road, a landscape photo filled with trees, Book of Mormon and Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets, a National Geographic issue from July 1971 and a phone armed with the infamous voice message fill up the rest of the shelves.

To the right, 10 pieces fill up the expanse of the sea foam green wall. An oil colored piece of canyons tops the left side, with simple color for the sky and brown landscape. Below, five pieces of paper that look as if torn from a Moleskine notebook are all placed in succession after the other with each utilizing only one color and each highlight a store sign or a car seen along the road.

The middle and right side of the wall feature three acrylic paintings, each varying greatly in content. The first has two children’s heads and below, another scenery shot of Montana’s mountain ranges fill the piece with jagged rocks jutting up, green moss covering them and a pale blue sky peeking through with clouds interspersed. To the right, a vivid interpretation of an empty gas station at night shows the brightness of the pumps and the lights of the shop, multi-colored tints that reflect from the ground and the ceiling and all together create an entrancing shot. A print of St. Francis in the dessert that Bunting possibly pulled out of a catalog rounds up the pieces on the wall.

Visitors to Bunting’s show should try to listen to the voicemail message before checking out the other elements, as it is what created the framework for every piece included. Upon playing, listeners will hear a story of a woman being in a remote area and a completely different world than she is used to. Much of Bunting’s works are about Western spaces and feelings of isolation, so the message appearing on his machine when it did was a fateful reminder of his intents and visit. The show fully utilizes the Telephone Room Gallery’s minimalist space and is an opportunity to take in new works from a renowned Northwest artist.

“Montana (erased)” will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery starting on the night of the show’s opening, Nov. 5, which takes place from 6-10 p.m. and will show through Nov. 30. The pieces are viewable by appointment almost anytime, just e-mail at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com to schedule a time/day. For more information, visit http://thetelephoneroom.blogspot.com/ or “like” the Telephone Room Gallery on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Telephone.Room.Gallery).

"Montana (erased)" by Buddy Bunting

2010-10-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

An erroneously left answering machine message detailing a stranger's travels through Montana form the basis for Buddy Bunting's Montana (erased) at the Telephone Room Gallery -- continuing the Seattle artist's exploration of the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. The show features the actual answering machine message, as well as new paintings and found objects.

"I am fascinated by the western landscape, its mythology of transcendence, openness, and expansion. In researching certain sites of interest, there are diversions, many drawings, and wrong turns. I am compelled to make paintings of these places, paintings which resonate in the mind and require some time to reveal their effect."
---Buddy Bunting

Buddy Bunting, Cemetery at the Montana State Prison near Deer Lodge, Montana, photograph, 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.

Buddy Bunting, creation or bust (honk 4 jesus), ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2010.
Photo courtesy of the artist.

Buddy Bunting, Untitled, ink and pencil on paper, 5 x 7 in., 2008.
Photo courtesy of the artist.

See more of Buddy Bunting's art at http://www.buddybunting.com/.

You can also listen to a 2009 interview with Buddy at http://podcasts.thestranger.com/2009/06/bunting.

Buddy Bunting is a Seattle based artist who works primarily in ink and watercolor on paper. His work has recently been seen locally at Winston Wachter Fine Art, the Tacoma Art Museum Northwest Biennial, Crawl Space Gallery, and the SOIL Gallery, as well as Powells Books in Portland, Oregon, and the Painting Center in New York City. He was a recipient of Artists Trust GAP Award for Individual Artists Projects in 2009 and 2004, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2008, and a 4Culture Special Projects Grant in 2005.

Montana (erased) by Buddy Bunting will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from November 5 - 30, 2010, with an everyone-is-welcome open house on November 5 from 6-10 pm. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Teeny is Big

2010-08-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Oh, it just never ends, but we never mind it either... the Seattle Weekly named us the "Best Teeny Tacoma Art Space - 2010".

"Small is good, when you can get to it. At 12.5 square feet, The Telephone Room occupies a closet-sized space in a Dutch Colonial home that since 1930 had been occupied by nothing more than a black rotary-dial telephone. But in May 2009, this tiny room began housing artist-led installations by the likes of Blake Haygood, Ben Hirschkoff, Nicholas Nyland, and Kristen Ramirez. One exhibit featured floor-to-ceiling drawings, another was inspired by episodes of drunk dialing, and a third riffed on brass chandeliers. Directed by artists Heide Fernandez-Llamazares and Ellen Ito, the space is available to visitors by appointment and at monthly art openings." —Adriana Grant

I'd like to point out that Blake, Ben, Nicholas and Kristen aren't the only artists we've hosted. We also loved showing Tacoma a teeny bit of (in order of my memory) Shannon Eakins, Marc Dombrosky, Lisa Kinoshita, Matt Johnson, Jennifer Peters, Chris Sharp, Zack Bent and Gala Bent, Peter Lynch, Allison Hyde, Jeremy Mangan, Laura Komada and Paul Komada, Elise Richman, James Porter, Saya Moriyasu, Pei Pei Sung, Randy Wood, Jessica Bender, Noal Nyland, Julie Rivera, Jessica Balsom, and Ellen Ito.

Here's what the Telephone Room Gallery looks like when none of the above artists are showing in it:

Thanks Adriana!

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010, with an open house on the evening of August 6. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Chris Sharp: "I don't hate anyone"

2010-08-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Telephone Room Gallery is pleased to present "I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp, featuring painting and a whole mess of letterpress for the month of August. Open house and whirligig-making on Friday, August 6, 2010 from 6-9 pm.

Chris Sharp's beautiful hand-lettering adorns many of his canvases, and can also be seen all around Tacoma via his commercial sign-painting at Satellite Coffee, Infinite Soups, and The Rosewood Cafe, among others. He has most recently had solo exhibitions at Mineral and at the Pacific Lutheran University Gallery. He has an MFA in painting from Washington State University, and he was the recipient of the 2008 Greater Tacoma Community Foundation's Annual Foundation of Art Award.

Chris Sharp's old studio in the Merlino Building, circa 2006.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

Chris Sharp, Let It Roll, enamel on canvas, 2007.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

Chris Sharp and Beautiful Angle, Parking, letterpress, March 2007.
Photo courtesy of Beautiful Angle.

"Our friend Chris Sharp created this great broadside using a combination of vintage wood and lead type, original cuts and 70's era engravings with words by Tom. The muscle car engravings were part of a collection that was donated to Beautiful Angle by the good folks at Clinton Hull Printing when they moved from their location on Commerce in downtown Tacoma." --Beautiful Angle

Chris Sharp, Rainier, linocut, produced at the King's Books Wayzgoose 2009.
Photo courtesy of Anagram Press.

Chris Sharp, PLU Gallery (installation in progress), September 2009.
Photo courtesy of Chris Sharp.

Chris Sharp, Satellite Coffee, mural, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Weekly Volcano.

Chris Sharp, City, watercolor and ink on paper, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Mineral.

You can read more about Chris Sharp on Exit133's A Conversation with Chris Sharp and in the May/June 2008 City Arts Magazine if you can find an old copy (it's not online).

"I don't hate anyone" by Chris Sharp will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from August 6 - 29, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

In The Garden/Eternal Flicker Flame Opening

2010-06-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ben and Nicholas, our June artists, and to everyone who came over last Friday. Pictured here is some of the art on view and some of the fantastic paper lanterns made by visitors.

How do you do?

2010-06-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Chris Sharp meets Nicholas Nyland's Running Bond (painted sheet metal, 2010) in the Telephone Room garden annex.

Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

And Chris Sharp's work will be at the Telephone Room in August 2010, with an open house on Friday, August 6!

Celebrating the Summer in the Garden

2010-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

We're celebrating summer and our June artists, Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff, on Friday, June 11 from 6-9 pm.

The evening will include a "flicker flame" lantern making activity inspired by Ben Hirschkoff's installation. You are invited to bring your own DIY paper lanterns to light up the yard, but please use battery powered flicker flame candles (to be found at Walgreens among other places).

This will also be a bittersweet Auf Wiedersehen for our gallery co-operator Marty who is moving to North Carolina to pursue a Master of Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill.

Update 6/8/10: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Julie Rivera will unfortunately not be on view at the Telephone Room in June. But we look forward to working with her in the future.

Novelty and Possession by Julie Rivera: An examination of two collectors and their need to collect and possess.

Julie Rivera, Untitled, photograph, 2009.

In The Garden by Nicholas Nyland
In June, the Telephone Room expands to include the adjacent garden where Nicholas Nyland will install playful sculptural works that respond to their setting and call upon a long tradition of ornamental garden sculpture.

Nicholas Nyland, Plaid Gnome, glazed ceramic, 2009.

Extended through June 2010:

Eternal Flicker Flame by Ben Hirschkoff
Using the all too common brass chandelier as a medium, Ben Hirschkoff's sculpture celebrates the artificial and symbolizes renewal, creation and destruction.

Ben Hirschkoff, Eternal Flicker Flame (detail), 96" x 28" x 5", reconfigured brass chandelier with flicker flame bulbs, 2010.

Artworks by Nicholas Nyland and Ben Hirschkoff will be on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from June 11 - 30, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime - email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Trace Evidence now viewable online!

2010-04-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Trace Evidence is a collaborative photographic installation by Jennifer Peters and Ellen Ito.

Photos of refuse left behind by visitors in museum spaces examine ideas about territory, propriety, trespassing and adaptation.

Why do we leave traces of ourselves wherever we go?
Is it unconscious or deliberate?

Don't leave a Trace

2010-03-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Nutmeat, 2010.

Trace Evidence is a collaborative photographic installation by Jennifer Peters and Ellen Ito.
Photos of refuse left behind by visitors in museum spaces examine ideas about territory, propriety, trespassing and adaptation. Why do we leave traces of ourselves wherever we go? Is it unconscious or deliberate?

On view from April 2 to 30, 2010.

Open house on Friday, April 2 from 6-9 pm. Please join us!

Cool Rush, 2010.

The Telephone Room Gallery is always viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Telephone Room will remain Drunk until April

2010-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

Drunk Dialing by Kristen Ramirez, that is... Come see the show for the first time, or make an appointment to fall in love with it all over again. If you need more information about the artist, check out this Q & A from the Seattle Times. Hot off the press!

If you'd like some Drunk Dialing inspiration of your own, the Telephone Room recommends the following recipes (courtesy of the Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic, 1947 edition). Try them all, and remember to call...The Telephone Room Gallery!

Do Be Careful Cocktail

1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. cointreau
1/2 tsp. grenadine
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Shake with fine ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass

Artist's Special Cocktail

1/2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. dry sherry
1/4 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. Groseille syrup (you can use currant or raspberry syrup)

Shake with cracked ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass

Oh Oh Mac Cocktail

1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. lillet
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. cointreau

Shake with cracked ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass

Each recipe serves one.

Drunk Dialing by Kristen Ramirez is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery until March 26, 2010 and is always viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

What's a "hmuh"?

2010-01-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

The Telephone Room is all aflutter, with birds alighting on every surface. In honor of Elise Richman's avian themed show, For the Birds, we've put together a brief list of bird facts. Twelve interesting tidbits about our feathered friends, one fact for each day left in the month -- twelve days remaining to come see For the Birds!

The sparrow-sized Elf Owl, only 5 to 6 inches long, found in southwestern deserts, is the smallest owl in the world.

The average canary has about 2,200 feathers.

At 40 pounds or more, the Trumpeter Swan is North America's heaviest bird.

The average robin lives to be about twelve.

Harris's Hawks often hunt cooperatively.

Only six inches long, the Least Auklet is the world's tiniest Auk.

The topknot that quails have is called a hmuh.

The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

There are more Bald Eagles in the province of British Columbia than there are in the whole United States.

A group of larks is called an exaltation.

Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

For the Birds by Elise Richman is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

"For the Birds" by Elise Richman

2010-01-11T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Telephone Room gallery proudly presents For the Birds by Elise Richman in January 2010.

"For the Birds involves intimate portraits of birds that act as surrogates and guardians, emotional personifications that simultaneously expose and protect. Each amiable yet awkward bird expresses a yearning for a state of wonder and receptiveness that is perpetually lost and sometimes regained. Their very postures and round forms convey a striving for openness and good will as they open, spread and lift their wings in gestures both hopeful and helpless." ---Elise Richman

Elise Richman, For the Birds, 2010. Installation at the Telephone Room Gallery, Tacoma, Washington.

For the Birds by Elise Richmand is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment.

For the Birds

2010-01-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Birds! Sculptures, drawings, paintings of birds! Standing, sitting, almost flying birds! Friendly, amiable, round birds!

For the Birds is a show about hope, humor and feathers -- lots of feathers. They adorn and identify, making each bird special, providing characteristics that express character.

It's a flock of sorts, composed of birds who do their best to be who they are while trying to become something more.

Elise Richman in her studio with "Billy".

For the Birds by Elise Richman is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery from January 8 - 31, 2010. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Morning After the Night Before

2009-12-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is upon us, and the wintry nights are filled with festive opportunities to raise a glass of cheer. It's a story as familiar as Dickens' A Christmas Carol -- and as tragicomic as A Christmas Story: Chasing away the chill with hot toddies, sipping one or five too many glasses of eggnog... Perhaps you evince an admirably strong commitment to sampling each and every last seasonal beer -- 'tis the season, right? And you needed a tall glass of whiskey to wash down that mouthful of Aunt Edna's 100 proof rum cake.

Oh, dear. Sometimes the consequences of holiday spirit are more than a churning stomach and that foggy feeling... Somewhere between the White Elephant Gift Exchange and the cold, gray light of day, did you call to tell your ex how you feel about their (subpar) new paramour? Maybe you had to ring up everyone from work to tell them how much you love them -- you really, really love them.

The Telephone Room Gallery would like to help you through your recovery. Break out of your shame spiral and help Kristen Ramirez create her work for the Telephone Room's February 2010 show.
And remember, you're helping others when you tell Kristen how they drunkenly called you.

From Kristen:
DRUNK DIALING. I need your best drunk dialing story. Send a few words, send a five-paragraph essay, but do it now! You know you've got one.
I'll be showing work at the world's smallest and most adorable gallery in February 2010 (Tacoma's Telephone Room Gallery www.thetelephoneroom.blogspot.com). Inspiration shall come in the way of your drunk dialing anecdotes, to be inscribed in a sea of booze bottles.
Email me your juicy confessions now: ktramirez@hotmail.com. All stories will remain anonymous.

We're the best!

2009-12-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

...at least that's what Seattle Magazine says. They noted the Telephone Room Gallery as the most artistic use of outdated architecture in their annual "Best of" issue (December 2009). Follow the link, or find it in print at a newsstand near you!

And as always, stay tuned for information on our upcoming exhibitions. We're featuring Elise Richman in January 2010. Say goodbye to the aughts and hello to the... tweens?

Blake Blogs.

2009-11-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you who like to get your information from a primary source -- stop reading this! For the real Horse's Mouth about November Telephone Room Gallery artist Blake Haygood, check out his blog. What awaits you at www.blakehaygood.com/blog/? Our Mr. Haygood tells us, "I'll be posting images of my newest work, shows (mine and others) and a few random bits to keep it interesting."

Blake's work is on view at the Telephone Room Gallery until the end of November -- please email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for an appointment. Come by for a gander before you're all groggy from that third slice of pumpkin pie.

Chickens Only

2009-11-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

"Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood, currently on view in the Telephone Room Gallery, borrows its title from the song "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?" by Louis Jordan (1908-1975). The show isn't about the song, but this post is about Louis Jordan.

Louis Jordan began performing with bands in the early 1930s, and by the time of his death in 1975, he had made a lasting impact upon American music. Described by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as both "The Father of Rythym and Blues" and "The Grandfather of Rock and Roll." The "Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness" James Brown once said of Jordan, "He could sing, he could dance, he could play, he could act. He could do it all."

Sing, dance, play, act... That brings to mind another group of multi-talented performers. Here, performing one of Louis Jordan's classic numbers, "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens"...

"Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood is on view from November 4 - 30, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Blake gets us into the Tiny Top Ten

2009-11-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks Regina! Or is it thank you Blake!

www.artsjournal.com/anotherbb/2009/11/blake-haygood-in-the-telephone.html

"It 12.5 square feet, The Telephone Room in Tacoma is not the smallest gallery in the world but must be in the tiny top ten.

From its Web site:
It is located in a Dutch Colonial home in Tacoma and since 1930, its sole purpose has been to house a black rotary dial telephone. Until now...The Telephone Room is small, but its mission is big: to house artist-driven exhibits and programming. Big ideas in an intimate space.

Opening tomorrow night are Blake Haygood's new drawings under the collective title of Is You Is, in gouache and graphite on ragboard.

Haygood began as a printmaker and still paints in a modified printmaking style, incising form into wood panels and painting in layers through a process of erasure, laying on and partially wiping out. When he began painting earlier in the decade, acrylics in a mineral varnish woke up his weightless world.

Born in Athens, Ga., in 1966, he grew up in a smaller, more rural town nearby, spending a lot of time at his grandfather's farm bordered by woods. Untended, the farm had slid into disrepair. Beyond a barn with a caved-in roof and machinery rotting in the field was the woods, also strewn with broken machines.

A walk in the countryside meant a scramble over dumped refrigerators, cars and parts of cars, washing machines, buzz saws, bikes and bed posts. Wild grasses, mosses and tree saplings used the machinery as nurse logs, shooting up inside it and growing large enough to shoulder it aside or bury it.

Haygood's new work has moved beyond the semi-pastoral decay of the old South to explore more remote cosmologies. Inside them, densities of cut stone or wood linger on their blunt bases before pushing off into the air. His forms may be eroded, but his soft hues are always brand new. He is a master of the potent blank. He takes his cues from traditional Chinese landscape artists who created air, water and mountains largely by leaving them empty. Haygood's forms are lovely, but it's the colored air around them makes them matter.

Is You Is is half a line. Musically, it ends in a love song. Although Haygood uses the reference to mark a career turning point, no longer part-time painter and part-time art dealer but painter full-time, his paintings make the song their own. What is lost, ruined or left behind is desirable again in the redeeming space he makes for it. "
---Another Bouncing Ball: Regina Hackett takes her Art to Go, November 2, 2009, www.artsjournal.com/anotherbb.

The Telephone Room Gallery opening for "Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood is Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 6-9 pm and Blake will be in attendance.

"Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood is on view from November 4 - 30, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Is You Is or Is You Ain't?

2009-11-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

"The title of my show, "Is You Is," comes from the Louis Jordan (www.louisjordan.com) song "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (My Baby)." The question for me is not about my love life but about my career as an artist. After being a co-founder and co-owner of Platform Gallery in Seattle for 5 years, I began to ask myself, am I primarily a gallery owner or an artist? It became increasingly clear that I would need to make a choice and fully commit to one or the other. I left Platform at the end of July to focus on my art. Luckily for me the good people at the Telephone Room in Tacoma offered me a slot in their schedule. I'll be integrating my drawings of disintegrating/reforming mechanical/organic objects into the space. This is my first solo show with all new work since last showing at Platform in January 2005."
---Blake Haygood, www.blakehaygood.com

Blake Haygood, "Is You Is?", gouache and graphite on rag board, 2009.

The Telephone Room Gallery opening for "Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood is Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 6-9 pm and Blake will be in attendance.

"Is You Is?" New Drawings by Blake Haygood is on view from November 4 - 30, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The End (of "Undead")

2009-11-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

Some final images of the Undead show, a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers.

Consumption, control, attraction, repulsion... Capes. Fear. Lines of defense. Why do zombies and vampires continue to captivate our cultural imagination? Undead is artwork and writings that explore these fetid creatures of film, folklore and nightmares.

Featuring art by Jessica Balsam, Jessica Bender, Marc Dombrosky, Shannon Eakins, Matt Johnson, Lisa Kinoshita, Peter Lynch, Saya Moriyasu, Jennifer Peters, James Porter, Elise Richman, Julie Rivera, Chris Sharp, and Randy Wood.

As well as a folio including writing and art by Jessica Balsam, Marc Dombrosky, Bob Fingerman, Ben Paulson, Brooks Peck, and Brad Young. Contact thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for copies of the folio.

Undead at the Telephone Room Gallery, October 2009.

Randy Wood, Dogula. Papermache, wire, ink, marbles. 2009.

Randy Wood is a Seattle cartoonist/sculptor/painter. He is a member of the artist run gallery, SOIL, and teaches cartooning classes at Pratt and Gage Academy.
www.randywoodart.com

Julie Rivera, Untitled. Photograph. 2009.

Elise Richman, Wolf Man. Gouache on Illustation Board. 2009.

Elise Richman is a Tacoma based artist with an MFA from American University and a BFA in painting from the University of Washington.

James Ackerley Porter, TURNED. Charcoal/graphite/vinyl/collage. 2009.

Chris Sharp, Creep. Sign paint on sign board. 2009.

“Local award winning artist Chris Sharp is totally fine.” –Chris Sharp

Matt Johnson, Lestat the Elder: The Cleansing. Doily, crystal glass, dentures, water, Alka-Seltzer tablets. 2009. Price: Your soul or best offer.

www.mattjohnsonart.com

Lisa Kinoshita, NO HOST BAR. Sterling silver barbed wire, silver shark’s tooth (cast from fossilized tooth), leather. 2009.

www.lisakinoshita.com

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime -- email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Fearpump

2009-10-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

Peter Lynch is a musician and sound designer in Seattle whose band "Library Science" fends off the zombie tendencies of lacklustre crowds at local rock shows with flashing lights and dancey beats.
www.libsci.com

"My brother just had twins and the baby monitor is a permanent fixture in whatever room he spends his time. I was going to do something with baby monitors, but ended up discovering the prenatal heart monitor while shopping for used baby monitors and thought that could be much more interesting.

'Fearpump' is a prenatal heart monitor linked to a postmortem soundtrack through the participant's heartbeat. The heartbeat is the first exposure we have to rhythm before we are even born. It may have been the catalyst for music to be invented. In this way, I hoped to make a thing where the heartbeat was somehow interacting with and mutating music.

The movie score I wrote is for a short film called 'El Borracho' which isn't released yet. It is a zombie film wherein the hero keeps his blood thin through alcoholism and saves himself from contagion."
—Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch, Fearpump [Your heartbeat mutates the score to "El Borracho", a zombie film]. Prenatal heart monitor, CD player, audio signal processors, excerpts from the score to "El Borracho" (2009, short film by Will Hoppins), headphones, red latex paint. 2009.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Making of Thriller

2009-10-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

"Jessica's dad dubbed 'The Making of Thriller' on VHS when she was a kid, resulting in her viewing the documentary more times than she can count. What she and her brother loved most about Michael Jackson was his dancing. She never learned the full zombie dance from the Thriller video (though it is still one of her goals), but she and her brother once recreated the "Beat It" fight dance using toothpaste tubes trimmed to look like switchblades."
—Jessica Balsam

Jessica hopes to finish and publish her "Making of Thriller" graphic novel memoir in the next year.

Jessica Balsam, Page from an upcoming graphic novel on “The Making of Thriller,” ink on paper, 2009.

Jessica Balsam, The Funk of Forty Thousand Years, ink on paper, 2009.

Jessica Balsam is a Tacoma artist who wants the world to remember what Michael Jackson looks like as a zombie so we won't kill him when he comes back as one.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Walrus Island and His Unwanted Vampire Guests

2009-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

"Much has been made lately about the life of the vampire as human. But there is the animal side to explore. Bats live in caves. But what do their animal neighbors think? For my piece I made Walrus Island and His Unwanted Vampire Guests. He's got this great island with a cave to hang out in and another one to look out from. But geez, two vampires decide to crash the upper cave. He's below looking annoyed. Mostly I liked to think how big his tusks are in relationship to their fangs.
Or you could think: Is the walrus also a vampire? Has he been bitten and that's why he now has big fangs?"
—Saya Moriyasu, www.sayamoriyasu.com

Saya Moriyasu, Walrus Island and His Unwanted Vampire Guests. Ceramic, glaze, light, wallpaper and glue (goop and hot melt). 6"x7"x7" (approximately). 2009. Courtesy of G. Gibson Gallery.

Chihuly Chupasangre

2009-10-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Seen in Tacoma, autumn, four or five years ago I think. If you know whence this came, please let us know.

"El Vampiro - Chihuly chupa el sangre de Tacoma"

translation: "The Vampire - Chihuly sucks the blood of Tacoma"

Undead Filmography

2009-10-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

There are, of course, many many opinions on what movies you should be watching this month, so here's a few more recommendations.

31 Days of Zombie Movies:
www.projectionbooth.blogspot.com/2007/09/photo-sharing-and-video-hosting-at.html

Day 1: Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004)
Day 2: 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2003)
Day 3: Undead (Michael and Peter Spierig, 2003)
Day 4: Tombs of the Blind Dead and Return of the Blind Dead (Amando de Ossorio, 1971/1973)
Day 5: Homecoming (Joe Dante, 2005)
Day 6: The Return of the Living Dead (Dan O'Bannon, 1985)
Day 7: Land of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2005)
Day 8: Oasis of the Zombies (Jesus Franco, 1981)
Day 9: 28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnallido, 2007)
Day 10: Revolt of the Zombies (Victor Halperin, 1936)
Day 11: Resident Evil (Paul W.S. Anderson, 2002)
Day 12: I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
Day 13: Zombi 2 (Lucio Fulci, 1979)
Day 14: King of the Zombies (Jean Yarbrough, 1941)
Day 15: White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932)
Day 16: Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez, 2007)
Day 17: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (Ray Dennis Steckler, 1964)
Day 18: Braindead (Peter Jackson, 1992)
Day 19: They Came Back (Robin Campillo, 2004)
Day 20: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Alexander Witt, 2004)
Day 21: The Plague of the Zombies (John Gilling, 1966)
Day 22: Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon, 1985)
Day 23: Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)
Day 24: The Dead Pit (Brett Leonard, 1989)
Day 25: The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)
Day 26: The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wes Craven, 1988)
Day 27: Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Jorge Grau, 1974)
Day 28: Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1988)
Day 29: Day of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1985)
Day 30: Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
Day 31: Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)Closing Thoughts

Top 70 Vampire Movies of all Time:
www.snarkerati.com/movie-news/top-70-vampire-movies-of-all-time

1. Nosferatu (1922)
2. Dracula (1931)
3. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
4. Black Sunday (1960)
5. Martin (1977)
6. Horror of Dracula (1958)
7. Near Dark (1987)
8. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002)
9. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
10. Cronos (1993)

The Best and Worst Vampire Movies:
www.cinematical.com/2009/08/06/the-best-and-worst-vampire-movies

A comprehensive "Vampire Filmography" from Washington State University:
www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/vampirefilms.html

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Zombify Yourself

2009-10-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

It can happen to anyone really. So suddenly and often without any warning. And it's so permanent.

Not any more! Now at last, you can get that chic zombie look without permanently sacrificing your long-term ambitions. Think of the possibilities: high school grad, weddings, work ID photos, family reunion photos... zombify yourself and add your photo to the Telephone Room Gallery's facebook fans photos!
www.zombify-yourself.net
www.facebook.com/Telephone.Room.Gallery?v=photos

Zombified Ellen.

Zombified Marty and Quatchi.

Zombified Chica (at 7 weeks old).

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Zombie and Damsel at Wright Park

2009-10-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

"In this moment, her memory lives on, captured in perpetual hope and terror of escaping or succumbing to the insatiable undead. Using photography as a starting point for every project has helped me zero in on beginning new work.

Zombie and Damsel at Wright Park is a contemporary Victorian Death/Photo Collage of digital prints on matte cardstock with a blank, gessoed canvas background. I chose the Tacoma local, W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park, as the backdrop of this Victorian era inspired piece. The conservatory is one of the few remaining Victorian style conservatories on the West Coast. The visual discourse of the zombie and damsel are in reverence of the Victorian Death photography style. Although one remains as the walking dead, the damsel may not be far behind. In this moment, her memory lives on, captured in perpetual hope and terror of escaping or succumbing to the insatiable undead."
–J.A. Peters.

Website coming soon! For the moment, please take a look at the artist's ever growing photographic library at: www.flickr.com/photos/jpeters/sets.

J.A. Peters, Zombie and Damsel at Wright Park. Digital prints on matte cardstock, gessoed canvas background. 2009.

PLASMA

2009-10-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Marc Dombrosky lives and works with his wife Shannon Eakins in Las Vegas, and he is sensitive to sunlight.

http://marcdombrosky.blogspot.com/
http://battlebornlv.blogspot.com/

Marc Dombrosky, PLASMA. Embroidery on found envelope. 2009.

"I don't know if the writing on the envelope is a reminder for dropping off or picking up.

The envelope is from the Department of Social and Health Services.

It's also printed on recycled (resurrected?) paper, which probably had a prior life somewhere:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_recycling

And plasma? In Tacoma, you can donate here: www.cascadebloodcenters.org

Plasma is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_plasma

Tru Blood: www.trubeverage.com

Sleep all day, party all night, never grow old."
—Marc Dombrosky

Marc Dombrosky lives and works with his wife Shannon Eakins in Las Vegas. He has had solo exhibitions at Portland Art Museum and Platform Gallery Project Space, and his works have been shown at Tacoma Art Museum; Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA; Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, WA; d.e.n. contemporary, Los Angeles; PDX Contemporary, Fourteen30, and Gallery Homeland, Portland; Davidson Contemporary, SOIL Artist Collective, and the Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, as well as the traveling exhibition "Skirting the Line: Conceptual Drawing" (organized by DePauw University, Greencastle, IN). Upcoming projects include a solo exhibition at Platform Gallery (2010) and inclusion in the exhibition Traces, at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design in Raleigh, NC (2011). He is currently an adjunct professor at University of Nevada Las Vegas and holds an MFA from The Ohio State University. His projects are represented by Platform Gallery in Seattle.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

to baby strigoli, with love

2009-10-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

"In Romanian mythology, Strigoi are the troubled souls of the dead rising from the grave. Some of the properties of the Strigoi include: the ability to transform into an animal, invisibility, and the propensity to drain the vitality of victims via blood loss. They are most often associated with Vampires or Zombies.

If a person dies before they are married they are at risk of becoming a vampire. The corpse is wed to another unmarried person to prevent them returning from the grave but if this fails, Strigoi will return to have sexual intercourse with the spouse and will attack family members.

One remedy against Strigoi is to bury a bottle of whiskey with the corpse. The Vampire will drink it and not return home.

If the Strigoi can go undetected for seven years, it can travel to another country or place where another language is spoken and become human again. Once human, the Strigoi can marry and have kids, but they will all become vampires when they die."
—excerpted and summarized from Wikipedia by Jessica Bender.

http://cabinet713.blogspot.com/
http://jessicaabender.blogspot.com/

Jessica Bender, to baby strigoli, with love, felt, leather, found buttons, ring boxes, whiskey, "blood," 2009. For sale: $66.6

To learn more about strigoi, watch Across the Forest, a documentary by two American filmmakers who travel through Transylvania collecting stories from villagers about vampires, werewolves and forest spirits.

The Olympia Film Festival is also showing a movie about strigoi on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:15 pm. Check here for the most recent info: www.olympiafilmfestival.org/movies/strigoi.
"Forget everything you thought you knew about vampires. Strigoi is an intriguing glimpse of post-communist Romania deftly mixed with an ancient myth of wronged souls who return from the dead with enhanced appetites and a hunger for blood."

Jessica Bender lives in Gig Harbor, she wants to be a vampire.

Coffins... Coffins filled with earth

2009-10-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

In the classic 1922 vampire horror movie, Nosferatu, the vampire Count Orlok travels with multiple coffins—some of which are filled with only dirt and one of which also contains Count Orlok. The Count's guest, Thomas Hutter, discovers in The Book of the Vampires that the source of a vampire's power is the soil in which he was buried.

Shannon Eakins, Coffins... Coffins filled with earth, Tacoma dirt, Las Vegas dirt, polymer clay, postage, 2009.

Shannon Eakins lives and attends school in Las Vegas where she is paler and much, much older than those around her.

http://shannoneakins.blogspot.com/
http://battlebornlv.blogspot.com/

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Cocktails for the Undead

2009-10-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Vampire
(also known as Purple Haze)
1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz black raspberry liqueur
cranberry juice

Pour the vodka and black raspberry liqueur into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.

The Zombie
1 1/4 oz lemon juice
1 oz dark rum
3/4 oz orange juice
1/2 oz cherry brandy
1/2 oz light rum
1/2 oz high-proof dark rum
2 dashes grenadine

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a highball glass with crushed ice.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Vampire Homework

2009-10-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Read this good and short (for The New Yorker) history of vampire literature. Discuss with your friends and colleagues. Send us your comments.

A 1928 advertisement for a play of Bram Stoker’s story.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Soundtrack to Your Life

2009-10-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

If you've been searching for a soundtrack to your life lately, and if you fear zombies, then this might be the song for you:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6vnM9I7HIo

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Survival Skills

2009-10-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

Like any good guidance counsellor, the Telephone Room Gallery wants you to be prepared for life and art. And like any good guidance counsellor knows, the best way to be prepared is to take a multiple choice quiz. Take a good hard look at yourself and ask yourself What are your chances of surviving a Zombie Apocalypse? (It's a multiple choice quiz actually, not just a single question.)

Depending on your results from the above quiz, you will now probably need more information about how to defend yourself and how to create a zombie survival kit. If you're in a hurry, just add a weapon to your FEMA basic survival kit. If you want to survive, read on:

everything zombies: www.zombiehub.com/zombie-survival-kit.html
includes videos: www.zombiesurvivalwiki.com
from a medical viewpoint: www.medicalsuppliesblog.com/2009/08/18/zombie-survival-kit-your-line-of-defense-against-zombies (dedicated to "discussing and comparing the best medical supplies and equipment")

There's a day for everything

2009-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

What better day to start our month of Undead blog posts than World Zombie Day!?!
Yes, today, October 11, 2009, is World Zombie Day.
www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-ae.mo.zombies09oct09,0,415347.story

If you're like Heide, you should probably read the Wikipedia entries for vampires and zombies. Or maybe search the archives of The New Yorker (more on that later).

If you're like Marty and Ellen, supplementary reading on zombies and vampires won't be necessary.

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

2009-10-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

What's that ever-so-slowly shuffling its way toward you? It's the UNDEAD!

Undead: a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers opens this week at the Telephone Room Gallery!

You'll see new names along with some familiar TRG contributors, and we'll be distributing a special, very limited edition companion publication to the exhibition.

It all happens at the opening, this Wednesday from 5 - 9 pm, only at the Telephone Room Gallery!

But remember: beware The Vampire Lovers....

Undead is a group exhibition inspired by braineaters and bloodsuckers. On view from October 7 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—don't be scared, email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

14 Days of LEGO: Day 14

2009-09-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

We made it!

The Telephone Room Gallery is celebrating the last of our 14-day LEGO blogging spectacular with some live blogging from the opening of our LEGO Show!

Thanks to everyone who has come by today. For those of you who haven't, here's what you're missing:

IT'S THE CLAWR! (created by Ellen Ito)

If you didn't make it tonight, remember that you can always email us to set up a private viewing appointment. The LEGO Show will be up through September 30, 2010.

14 Days of Lego: Days 12, 13

2009-09-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

Here at the Telephone Room Gallery, we are very busy getting ready for the upcoming opening of our LEGO Show. So busy, in fact, that we never got the blog post up for Day 12 of our 14-day LEGO-related countdown!

As an apology for yesterdays omission, we've provided a double-dose of LEGO fun: the brick house and the outhouse. The first, a link sent in by an astute Telephone Room Gallery follower, is an immense building project being undertaken in the UK.

The second is a sneak-peak of one of the works from The Telephone Room's very own LEGO Show, part of a special series by Dan Creamer.

Come by tomorrow after 6 pm to see everything we've created, or to make something yourself! Remember, you can always email for directions or to set up an individual viewing appointment.

14 Days of LEGO: Day 11

2009-08-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome LEGO and Telephone Room Gallery fans!

On Day 11, we'd like to direct you to the genius of one Michael Hickox. These LEGO recreations of classic arcade games reminded us here at the Telephone Room of some our earliest, fondest gaming experiences....specifically, our utter inability to play them with any skill whatsoever.

Take a look!

If you haven't had enough, here's the second installment:

Only three entries left, and that means three days until the opening. Hope to see you there!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 10

2009-08-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

We are in the home stretch in the Telephone Room Gallery's 14 Days of LEGO blogging spectacular!

You can tell because we are resorting, just this once, to linking to a collection of amazing LEGO links assembled by someone else.

Any one of these items could be its own daily dose. Especially LEGO Han Solo. Consider this economy-sizing your LEGO fix.

We've made it to Day 10. If you'd like to go all the way back to where we began, click here to go back to Day 1. Only four days until our LEGO Show Opening!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 9

2009-08-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

Your daily dose of LEGO continues on Day 9, better late than never...

Cake and Neave (formerly The Little Artists) use "an existing diverse range of artistic symbols and materials" in their work. And on this blog, you know what THAT means....

14 Days of Lego: Day 8

2009-08-27T14:39:00.001-07:00

The Telephone Room honors LEGO, Ted Kennedy, and SPAM.

14 Days of LEGO: Day 7

2009-08-26T16:26:00.000-07:00

Since we've had seven straight days of LEGO in all its glory and wonderment, we thought it was time to go back to where it all began: Denmark. No, really.

Today we pull back the curtains and show you what really goes into the making of this magical little brick.

Remember, Day 7 means the LEGO show is only a week away!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 6

2009-08-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here on Day 6, we'd like to take a moment to appreciate the fans of The Telephone Room Gallery who have sent in their own favorite LEGO finds. In their honor, we're doing a two-for-one special today, featuring our favorite clips from our fans' favorite clips!

The LEGO Boat

Watch and learn why boats should be made from wood and steel. Skip ahead to 5:13 for something really special!

8-Bit Trip

This is just cool. Well, 8-Bit cool. LEGO 8-Bit cool.

They also liked this on Gizmodo. Notice that this only came out a few days ago. The whole world knows the Lego Show is coming!

Keep those posts coming, dear readers, and remember that the LEGO Show opens at The Telephone Room Gallery in only 8 days!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 5

2009-08-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

Since yesterday was a day of rest, we'd best get back to work with the Telephone Room's 14 Days of LEGO!

Today we're featuring the artist Jan Vormann, whose Dispatchwork project has rebuilt cities across the Middle East and Europe with our favorite colorful little building block.

Here's an interesting interview with Vormann that provides some insight into his use of LEGO. Enjoy!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 4

2009-08-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday! Give us this day our daily LEGO.

14 Days of Lego: Day 3

2009-08-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

On Day 3, we are featuring a fun post from the NYTimes Abstract City Blog. Christoph Niemann's "I LEGO N.Y." left two-thirds of our gallery wanting to go back there, and one-third wanting to make the trip for the first time.

If you'd like to see more of his work, you can go to Niemann's website.

Getting tired yet? We hope not. 11 more days until the opening for the LEGO Show!

14 Days of LEGO: Day 2

2009-08-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

After starting out with our amps cranked to "11," you may be wondering what's next in The Telephone Room's 14 Days of LEGO.

Since we began Day 1 with a classic LEGO single, it only makes sense to showcase some album art on Day 2.

Once again, in LEGO.

The Telephone Room is proud to present to you this link, which will take you to a whole page full of classic album covers, recreated in our favorite medium.

14 Days of LEGO: Day 1

2009-08-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Next up at the Telephone Room Gallery, we're premiering a show dedicated to our favorite childhood (and let's face it, adulthood) plaything: the LEGO. Our LEGO SHOW is opening on September 2, and to raise awareness we're planning 14 days of LEGO on the TRG blog. Check back to the blog every 24 hours for a daily dose of LEGO goodness.

We're starting off with a classic, something that reveals the true power of LEGO.

Yes, it's Queen's 1975 magnum opus, Bohemian Rhapsody. In LEGO.

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski

2009-08-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

Listen to Charles Bukowski reading The Bluebird: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWZOsVtqR0

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is an homage in art to Bukowski and is titled after the poem, which is a favorite of Jessica's. The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is on view from August 5 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—please email us.

The Volcano Gods notice us

2009-08-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Alec Clayton writes nice things about Jessica Bender's art in The Weekly Volcano today.

"The Bluebird: Jessica Bender’s tribute to Charles Bukowski"
by Alec Clayton
August 13, 2009
www.weeklyvolcano.com/2009-08-13/visual-edge/4088

Dead Man in my House

2009-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Ponnekanti wrote a very nice article about the Telephone Room Gallery and our Art + Ice + Beer event with Jeremy Mangan in The Tacoma News Tribune today:

"From small art gallery, big ideas"
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Rosemary Ponnekanti
www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/840897.html

Also published in the Seattle Times, "Tiny Tacoma art gallery makes big splash":
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2009708623_tinygallery23.html

Photos courtesy of the Tacoma News Tribune.

Celebrating Bukowski

2009-08-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Jessica Bender on The Bluebird, in her own words:

"The Bluebird is an installation inspired by and celebrating the life and work of Charles Bukowski, American poet and author, for his birthday August 16th.

The work is the culmination of a week-long residency at the Two Dot Spot in Two Dot, Montana. This remote town consists of a post office and a bar, which seemed the perfect setting to channel Bukowski energy, as he worked for the post office for some time and is known for his drinking habits. Bukowski made a series of paintings/drawings using whatever was on hand. Embracing this principle, much of the work is made from materials available in Two Dot, including excavated antelope bones and moths.

As an homage, the installation includes pieces of Bukowski’s text, including the show title 'The Bluebird,' an influential poem for this work."

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird (work in progress), mixed media, 2009. Photos courtesy the Telephone Room Gallery.

Jessica's blogs: www.cabinet713.blogspot.com and www.jessicaabender.blogspot.com
blog about Two Dot, Montana that has a bit about Jessica's artist-in-residency there: www.twodotspot.blogspot.com
Charles Bukowski website: www.bukowski.net

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is on view from August 5 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—please email us.

Wild Kingdom

2009-08-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Telephone Room Gallery chose the artist for the August 2009 City Arts Tacoma Curator's Eye. We chose Shannon Eakins who lived in Seattle and then Tacoma for the past 8 years or so, and recently moved to Las Vegas to pursue her MFA in sculpture. We miss her already.

Unfortunately, magazines have to edit their articles but we want to share with you the original article that we wrote...

Wild Kingdom
Shannon Eakins, Artist Selected by Martin Gengenbach, Ellen Ito and Heide Fernandez-Llamazares of the Telephone Room Gallery

Almost any city dweller has had an encounter with wildlife. The moment when you see a crow on the sidewalk, and you both stop short, eyes locked...is this a greeting? An acknowledgement? A silent challenge? What informs our interactions with wild animals? Do we want to tame them? Engage with them? Live among them undetected? Shannon Eakins' artwork reflects upon such moments of secret communication and explores our shared experiences with the Animal Kingdom.

While living in Tacoma for the past five years, Shannon has engaged with falcons, deer, and other animals of the Northwest. Her work doesn't simply depict animals-this is art that aims to be meaningful to animals and to beguile them: an exquisite, intricately embroidered falconry glove, an alluring installation of kinetic sculpture that mimics the sounds, sights and scents of deer mating rituals.

Shannon contemplates our shared urban environment and the animals that surround us but are not our pets. It is something we can all relate to: we've all had experiences with animals, either thrilling in the connection made ("and then it looked right at me") or not made ("and it didn't even see me").

"Dolphins may voluntarily swim with us (and have for decades, in the Bahamas), but what if I actually entice a whitetail deer into a gallery to participate in my installation, or what if that falcon actually comes when I call it? I want to see if animals can care about what I make. People seek something from wild animals even when they are not using them to fulfill a basic need. Could the same be said in reverse? I really want there to be a reason for this reciprocity and I want my work to explore that desire." --Shannon Eakins

I Made This for Us. 2008. Embroidered leather falconry glove, hood, and bronze whistle. Performance/documentation views. Dimensions variable. Photos courtesy of Shannon Eakins.

Shannon's blog: www.shannoneakins.blogspot.com

Eakins & Dombrosky: www.tacomafunmachine.blogspot.com and www.battlebornlv.blogspot.com

Shannon was a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's inaugural Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009). The Telephone Room Gallery is always viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Bluebird

2009-08-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is inspired by Charles Bukowski, and his poem My Telephone, for his birthday month.

More about Jessica Bender's art and Charles Bukowski:
www.cabinet713.blogspot.com
www.jessicaabender.blogspot.com
www.bukowski.net

The idea for Jessica Bender's show started with Bukowski's poem My Telephone, which made her think of the Telephone Room Gallery. Her installation piece is an homage to Bukowski involving bottles, bones, a pillow, and more. The Bluebird is another Bukowski poem that Jessica enjoys.

The Telephone Room Gallery will be hosting an open house for The Bluebird on Friday, August 7 from 5:00-9:00 pm. Please email us at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com for directions if you are interesting in visiting.

Jessica Bender, The Bluebird (work in progress), mixed media, 2009. Photos courtesy the Telephone Room Gallery.

The Bluebird by Jessica Bender is on view from August 5 - 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment almost anytime—please email us.

A Small Army of Buddhas

2009-07-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

"The Badman is the first reductive sculpture I’ve ever made that wasn’t ice. I learned to carve ice mostly from Takeo Okamoto, a man whose generosity in teaching is matched only by his skill. But I also learned from a small army of Buddhas. One of our first clients at Okamoto Studio was a restaurant for whom we carved a life-sized seated Buddha six days a week. My first real contribution as a carver at Okamoto Studio was to make those figures. I was still a grad student at the time, so I would come in two days a week and cut three Buddhas a day. In all I carved well over 300, more likely 400. I liked to joke with the Okamotos that there actually was no restaurant, that they just loaded those Buddhas up in the van, drove to some vacant lot in Queens, and kicked them out the back – sort of a ‘Karate Kid’ type thing, and once I reached 1000 they’d finally let me carve something else, like a majestic winged unicorn or a gorilla wearing boxing gloves.

So if not for Takeo and the Buddhas, this painter would never have ventured into the 3D world of The Badman. Nor would we be carving ice mugs on Friday, a favorite at our summer BBQs at the ice studio. Hard to say if the best part is drinking the ice-cold suds or smashing the mug on the sidewalk once it springs a leak. You decide."
—Jeremy Mangan.

Jeremy Mangan, The Badman (detail), 2009. Photo courtesy The Telephone Room.

Join us for an evening featuring Jeremy Mangan's art + ice carving + beer on July 24, 2009. Please RSVP at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Badman by Jeremy Mangan is on view from June 17 - July 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

The Badman and some bad men

2009-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our current exhibit The Badman by Jeremy Mangan finds the Telephone Room occupied by a dead gunslinger: life-size, and in a pine box to boot!

The Badman effect has us watching season after season of Deadwood—and also got us wondering:

Was the Old West really full of the sort of gun battles that ricochet across the silver screen?
How did most of the westward settlers of the shoot-'em-up variety truly meet their end?

From Wikipedia:
"Often, a gunfight was spur-of-the-moment, with one drawing his pistol, and the other reacting. Often it would develop into a shootout where both men bolted for cover. Other times, one or both were drunk and missed several normally easy shots. Many times the shootout was little more than one taking advantage of the other's looking away at an opportune moment...

Gunfighters King Fisher, John Wesley Hardin, Ben Thompson, Billy the Kid, and Wild Bill Hickok all died as a result of an ambush, killed by men who feared them because of their reputation. Famed gunman Clay Allison died in a wagon accident. Gunmen Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Commodore Perry Owens, and Luke Short all died of natural causes, living out their lives on reputation and avoiding conflict in secluded retirement."

Secluded retirement? No! Just the thought makes us crave some good old fashioned... Reenactments! Every year the town of Northfield, Minnesota celebrates it's heroic place in outlaw history with Defeat of Jesse James Days. The festival, held the weekend after Labor Day, marks the anniversary of Northfield's brave stand against the James/Younger gang's attempt to rob the First National Bank.
If you'd like to learn more about this true tale of outlaws and gunfighters, the festival website has a historical account of that fateful September 7th.
Or, if you fancy yourself an expert on Jesse James, or on Northfield, Minnesota you can test your knowledge with the Raid Trivia Quiz.
If reenactments aren't your thing, check out some Mutton Bustin' instead.

Join us for an evening featuring Jeremy Mangan's art + ice carving + beer on July 24, 2009. Please RSVP at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

The Badman by Jeremy Mangan is on view from June 17 - July 31, 2009 in the Telephone Room Gallery. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

Small is Dynamite!

2009-06-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

...Or should we say TNT? The News Tribune arts writer and critic Rosemary Ponnekanti wrote about the Telephone Room on the GO Arts blog:

"Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Small art, fun space - the Telephone Room

Posted by Rosemary Ponnekanti @ 09:54:20 am

Laura Komada, "Untitled (bigfoot and tree)." Photo courtesy The Telephone Room.

It may be tiny, but there's a lot of art going on at the Telephone Room over the next week.

The one-room gallery inside the North-end house of artist Heide Fernandez-Llamazares is having two open houses: one today, to close the current show, and one next Wednesday, to open the next. The gallery, which Fernandez-Llamazares and co-organizers Ellen Ito and Marty Gengenbach call the world's second-smallest gallery (what's the smallest? The Tollbooth, of course), measures just 12 1/2 square feet. It's an original room in the Dutch Colonial house, built with curvy shelves to accomodate those wishing to have a private conversation on the black rotary dial phone (which still works, by the way.)

Since the room is pretty unusable for anything else, the artists decided to convert it into a gallery. It can fit about three medium-size flat works, lots of small ones, or maybe one medium installation (can't wait to see that, maybe the tiny room crammed with giant balloons a la Western Bridge?!) And since it's in Heide's house, you have to email to set up an appointment - unless there's an open house.

Which there is, tonight. The current show "Home Sweet Home," featuring Laura and Paul Komada of Seattle and Noal Nyland of Lakewood, is almost over - last chance to see it is from 5-8 p.m. Paul Komada's hand-knit Mondriaan-ish geometry mixes cozy texture and strict form in a pleasing way. Nyland (brother of Nicholas) creates a mapped landscape of greens and gray-blues with quilted fabric, the pieces chopped out like deer-bites in a rose bush, calm but disconnected. Laura Komada's watercolors are simple but strong: My favorite is the untitled Big Foot next to a fir tree, their shadows looming far beyond the reality.

Next open house is for Jeremy Mangan, who just won the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation Arts Award, and who'll be creating a life-size 3D painting of a shot-dead old-west gunfighter in a pine box. (That'll make it extremely crowded in the Telephone Room, which fits about two viewers at a time.) Rumor has it that he'll also be leading a beer mug ice-carving session in the backyard, complete with local microbrews. That's 5-9 p.m. June 17. I'll be there.

So where is the Telephone Room? Email thetelephoneroom@gmail.com to RSVP and find out the address. You can also visit http://www.thetelephoneroom.blogspot.com/ for info."

We have officially become citizens of the Greater Blogosphere. Thanks, Rosemary!

What will you do this summer?

2009-06-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Upcoming November 2009 Telephone Room exhibiting artist Kristen Ramirez was selected by the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs to be the artist in residence in Seattle's Fremont Bridge tower.
While some of us will be draped across kiddie pools in the throes of Otter Pop induced brain freeze, Ramirez will be creating a public art project inspired by the venerable drawbridge. Find out more in this article and this episode of Art Zone from the Seattle Channel.
Here at the Telephone Room Gallery, we'll be using our trusty namesake rotary dial to leave our Fremont Bridge thoughts and memories for Kristen's consideration at 206-455-9983.

UPDATE: Kristen's blog about the residency can be found here, or bend an ear to her feature on NPR's All Things Considered!

Vast and Incalculable

2009-06-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

We stole this from Ryan Branchini's Facebook page because it is awesome:

"How important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I could be prejudiced. I am a visual art." - Kermit the Frog

Zack at Gallery4Culture

2009-05-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Zack Bent is currently on view at Gallery4Culture in Seattle for the month of May.

Buffalo Trace
May 7 - 29, 2009
"Home and family are the epicenter of Zack Bent's photographic and video works ... The scenes reference the behaviors of other tribes and communities ... Buffalo Trace focuses on the Boy Scouts, an iconic American institution."
...read and see more at www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery and http://zackandgalabent.com/index.php?id=159,0,0,1,0,0

Zack was a part of the Telephone Room's inaugural Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
The Telephone Room is always viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Please join us on Friday, May 15th at the Telephone Room Gallery for Home Sweet Home (May 7 - June 10, 1009), an exhibition inspired by home, handiwork and decor, featuring the artwork of Laura Komada, Paul Komada (both from Seattle) and Noal Nyland (from Lakewood).

Open house from 6-9 pm on Friday, May 15th at 3710 North 7th Street in Tacoma.
If you can’t make it on Friday, we will also be viewable by appointment. Please email us to visit!

Pass it on.

Noal Nyland, Untitled, fabric, 39½ x 46½ inches, 2009.

Wanted: Fans

2009-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Telephone Room Gallery is now on Facebook! We hope you'll become a fan.
There goes the day...

Donkeys Like to Stand

2009-05-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Allison Hyde, Isn't Life Grand When You're in Love, found objects and plastic, 2009.

Thought of the Day: Donkeys like to stand, not lie rigidly on their sides.

Two of the Telephone Room Gallery's youngest fans – Lauren and Willa, age 5, but let's not be ageist – visited the Hello! exhibition independently and made it clear that they had an issue with Isn't Life Grand When You're in Love. Although they are both savvy art world insiders, and are more familiar than they would like to be with "No Touching" and "Touching harms the art", they both instinctively reached out and gently placed the fallen donkey on its feet again. It was only after the second instance that the different states of mind that we are in became apparent: to some people, a yellow plastic donkey should be proudly standing upright, regardless of whether it is art or in love.

Allison Hyde is currently studying in Eugene, Oregon, pursuing her MFA in Printmaking at the University of Oregon.
www.allisonhyde.com

Allison Hyde is a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's Hello! show, on view from February 18 to April 30, 2009. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

The Prowess of Weeds

2009-04-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Jessica Balsam is overwhelmed by the prowess of weeds. She was once driven to tears when surveying the bindweed aggressively twining its way around her yard. Her pulse quickens when the scotch broom blooms along the interstate. She invents elaborate schemes to stop its spread, usually involving trenches, fire, and sharp apparatuses that attach to her car.

However powerful they appear to be, though, weeds are nothing more than introduced species that depend on us – and our habit of disturbing soil – for survival. Michael Pollan sums it up in this early essay, “Weeds are not the Other. Weeds are us.”

It is this fascination that prompted Jessica to create a series of works that commemorate weeds that haunt Tacoma. The comics on her Weed Tins tell snippets of how the weeds came to inhabit our disturbed plots and forgotten corners. Luther Burbank introduced the Himalayan Blackberry as a hardier alternative to its native cousin. Lady Bird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act of 1965 ushered in an era of non-native plantings, probably including scotch broom along I-5. Dandelion, as we all know, was brought to the New World as food. It was a favorite of Jessica's grandfather, who ate it in salad while everyone else had iceberg lettuce.

Jessica Balsam, Weeds of Tacoma Tin #3: Bindweed, tin, pen and ink, 4½ (height) x 3¼ (diameter) inches, 2009.

Jessica Balsam is a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's Hello! show, on view from February 18 to April 30, 2009. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

More Congratulations...

2009-04-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ellen Ito will be one of the artists included in the Imperfect Articles exhibition at GOFFO of the NEXT 2009 art fair in Chicago from May 1 - 4, 2009. GOFFO focuses on multiples and editions.

Imperfect Articles merges a clothing brand and site-less gallery, taking an experimental approach to curatorial practice with limited-edition, hand-dyed and hand screen-printed t-shirts.

More info at:
http://www.nextartfair.com/
www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews4-21-08.asp

Marc Dombrosky (http://www.marcdombrosky.blogspot.com/) is currently included in the Finds Refined show at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington.

Finds Refined
March 14 - June 14, 2009
"Finds Refined is a group show featuring artists who use found matter in their work as intrinsic elements, whether for aesthetic qualities or to incorporate the history or past life of the material as part of the conception of the work..."
...read and see more at www.museumofnwart.org/index.php?page=current-exhibitions&exhibID=8

We are happy to say that both of these artists are currently a part of the Telephone Room's Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
Viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Safe to Swallow

2009-04-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

Pei Pei Sung remembers candy from her grandparents.

Pei Pei Sung, Safe to Swallow, acrylic on paper, 10 x 3½ inches, 2009.

Grandma and Grandpa used to ship us care packages from Taiwan to Wisconsin. Tucked in quilted blankets were a special treat—White Rabbit Candy.

_________________
Los Angeles Times
U.S., state issue warnings on Chinese candy White Rabbit

Officials urge consumers to discard the candy after the chemical melamine is detected in some pieces.

September 27, 2008

The Food and Drug Administration and state health authorities warned consumers Friday not to eat any flavors of White Rabbit candy imported from China because they may be contaminated with the chemical melamine.

The California Department of Public Health specifically identified White Rabbit candies imported and distributed by Queensway Foods Co. of Burlingame, Calif. Queensway is voluntarily recalling the chewy sweets after state testing detected melamine in some pieces.

Melamine is the compound associated with contaminated infant formula in China and last year¹s large recall of pet food.

The warning on the candies came as the FDA recommended that consumers avoid Mr. Brown instant coffee and milk tea products being recalled by Taiwan's Car Food Industrial Co.

The FDA said it was not aware of any illnesses in the U.S. linked to either the candy or the coffee and tea products. California officials urged consumers in possession of White Rabbit candy to discard it immediately.

The White Rabbit candies distributed by Queensway come in various flavors, including vanilla, red bean, coffee, corn, lychee, coconut, chocolate, mango and strawberry cream. All varieties have a picture of a white rabbit with a black background on the top of the bag.

Consumers with questions about the recalled product can contact Queensway at (650) 697-6633.
_________________

all about White Rabbit Candy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbit_Creamy_Candy

where to buy White Rabbit Candy: www.veryasia.com/whraca.html

Pei Pei Sung is a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's Hello! show, on view from February 18 to April 30, 2009. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

Two For the Show

2009-04-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Mangan is a painter and ice sculptor who lives in Fife.
www.jeremymangan.com

Jeremy Mangan, Two For the Show, acrylic and graphite on non-buckling board, 9½ x 12 inches, 2008.

“Two For the Show brings a new element into an ongoing series of drawings and paintings. For some time I’ve been creating and exploring a world of oversized and overbuilt house, barn, and shed structures. Building practices of the early American West are certainly a primary source for this imagery. There’s a haunting but attractive quality to old dilapidated wooden buildings. There’s also a particular logic—they were built to serve a specific and necessary function, with little or no attention paid to aesthetics. They were 'just good enough.' But they’re beautiful in spite of this, and because of it. I’ve taken this logic and expanded it to the point where it becomes, hopefully, a compelling visual experience and a useful metaphor. In that order.

Two For the Show adds a mural depicting two dead gunfighters to the side of one of these buildings. For me it’s something like an elegy, a monument, to a particular type of legend, at once heroic and villainous. Photos of corpses displayed as trophies are fascinating and horrible. Like the weathered barns, this is rich imagery.

It’s also fairly dark imagery, which is something unusual for me. In any case, I do see myself continuing to engage it and Two For the Show directly foreshadows my plans for the Telephone Room in June."
—Jeremy Mangan.

Jeremy Mangan is a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's Hello! show, on view from February 18 to April 30, 2009. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

Congratulations to...

2009-04-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Matt Johnson – for receiving one of seventeen 2009-2010 Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) grants.

Started in 1999, the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) is a biennial program to support individual artists who reside in Tacoma in their creation of new artwork.
...details at www.tacomaculture.org/arts/funding.asp

Jeremy Mangan – who currently has a show at The Helm gallery in Tacoma and an upcoming solo show at the Telephone Room in June.

March 19 - April 9, 2009 at The Helm
"...my current work is a series of drawings and paintings of barn or shed-like structures elevated and supported by stilts. I hope these images allude to the strength, usefulness, and beauty, but also the hubris, precariousness, and ridiculousness, of human ambition."
...more at www.thehelmgallery.com/?page_id=155

Nicholas Nyland – who currently has a show at the brand new OHGE Ltd. gallery in Seattle.

Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere
New work by Nicholas Nyland
March 21 - May 9, 2009
"Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere includes works in a range of media (painting, works on paper, paper mache and ceramics) that are a world apart."
...read and see more at www.ohgeltd.com/Ohge_Ltd/Past/Entries/2009/3/26.html

Elise Richman – who currently has a show with four other artists at SOIL in Seattle.

Forces and Formations
Kevin Bernstein, Jonathan Bucci, Claire Johnson, Chauney Peck, Elise Richman
April 1 - May 2, 2009
"Natural forces and formations provide a jumping off point, a reference that inspires each artist’s highly personal visual logic and evocative manipulation of materials."
...read and see more at http://soilart.org/archives/apr2009

Gala Bent – who currently has a show at Gallery4Culture in Seattle for the month of April.

Overgrown
April 2 – May 1, 2009
"In a dozen or so works on paper, Bent has produced an enchanting primer on the role of imagination in our understanding of reality."
...more at www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery/2008_2009/bent.htm

Shannon Eakins and Marc Dombrosky – who have an upcoming show at Fulcrum Gallery in Tacoma.

Phantasm Chasm
April 23 – May 31, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 23rd 6-10 pm
Fulcrum Social/Artist Talk: Sunday, May 10th 6 pm
"Phantasm Chasm uneasily unites some of the failed opportunities, tragic events, and myths in Tacoma’s past."
...more at www.fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com

All of these artists were nice enough to be a part of the Telephone Room's Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
Viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

What is a telephone room?

2009-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

As far as we can figure out, houses once had "telephone rooms" which were small rooms that were used exclusively to house a telephone and allowed people to make phone calls in private.

Some history:
The first prototype of the sound-proof phone booth was built in 1877. Mr. Watson, Alexander Graham Bell's trusty assistant, used a bunch of bed blankets around a box. He created the booth to prevent his landlady from listening in on his conversations.
(source: www.telephonetribute.com/telephonetrivia.html)

Today:
Our Telephone Room Gallery has a floorspace of four feet by two-and-a-half feet and we are guessing that it is original to the 1930 house. It contains a black Western Electric Model 554 rotary-dial wall telephone, some cupboards, shelving and a small window.

Here's Ellen and Chica in the Telephone Room Gallery (sans art - dogs and art don't mix!):

Here's another example of a telephone room:

"The main telephone for the house was kept in the telephone room, as during the 1930's telephones in full sight in living rooms were regarded as rather vulgar." www.carrickhill.sa.gov.au/house_telephone_room.html

You can still buy an original, restored Model 554 (minus the rotary-dial feature) for your own telephone room: www.oldphones.com/servlet/Detail?no=129

Lastly, some good telephone websites:
www.telephonetribute.com
www.arctos.com/dial
www.porticus.org/bell/the_bell_system_telephone_story.html

as seen in City Arts, April 2009

2009-03-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to us: the April 2009 issue of Tacoma City Arts magazine features a quarter page blurb on the Telephone Room Gallery in "City Seen"! (see page 7)

"Operator? Art, Please
The world's second-smallest art gallery, the Telephone Room, has a big mission: artist-driven exhibits and programming that spark more personal conversations between artists and the public. Located in a private 1930s home, this twelve-square-foot gallery boasts a rotary phone with a cool vintage ring. Founders Heide Fernandez-Llamazares, Marty Gengenbach and Ellen Ito hope the nontraditional space will inspire artists to try something new or explore site-specific ideas. Sixteen artists participated in Hello, the inaugural exhibit, which runs through April 15. For upcoming Shrinky Dink-making with Jessica Bender, contact thetelephoneroom@gmail.com."
-- Virginia Bunker, City Arts Magazine, April 2009.

Hello. The Telephone Room calling

2009-02-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello.

The Telephone Room calling.

The Telephone Room is Tacoma's second smallest art gallery (Hello Tollbooth Gallery!) at 12 ½ square feet. The Telephone Room is located in a Dutch Colonial home in Tacoma and since 1930, its sole purpose has been to house a black rotary dial telephone. Until now...

Small is Big. The Telephone Room is small, but its mission is big: to house artist-driven exhibits and programming. Big ideas in an intimate space.

We plan to host an open house every third Wednesday of the month from 6-8 pm where everyone is welcome to visit the Telephone Room, chat with the artists, talk about art, and hang out with us, but we are also viewable by appointment. Please email us to visit outside of third Wednesday evenings!

Opening on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009.

Hello.
Inaugural exhibition featuring small work from:

Jessica Balsam

Jessica Bender

Gala Bent

Zack Bent

Marc Dombrosky

Shannon Eakins

Allison Hyde

Ellen Ito

Matt Johnson

Jeremy Mangan

Nicholas Nyland

James Porter

Elise Richman

Julie Rivera

Chris Sharp

Pei Pei Sung

See you soon!
The Telephone Room